Handfasting
You may choose to
celebrate
your commitment to each other with a
handfasting ceremony, or to include a handfasting
ritual as part
of your commitment ceremony.

The word "handfasting" has
its
roots in Old Norse hand festa
to strike a contractual agreement by clasping
hands.

The central ritual of a
handfasting is the binding together of the
hands of the couple as a symbol and pledge of
their commitment to each
other and a visual demonstration that they are
from then on bound
together as a couple.

You can use one ribbon or
cord,
or many, create your own handfasting
cord by weaving together many lengths of fabric,
cord and ribbchoose
colours that are
meaningful to you or reflect the colour scheme you
have chosen, and the
ritual is a wonderful way to involve others in
your ceremony.

An ancient Celtic
custom,
handfasting gained renewed popularity last century
and while the
revived rite is seen as the preferred marriage
ceremony of pagan
couples the ritual has become part of mainstream
wedding and commitment
ceremonies too.

For a same sex couple,
unhindered
by the legal requirements of a marriage ceremony,
the ceremony can be
whatever you wish. I will work with you to develop
and create a
ceremony that is uniquely yours.

Jenny,
your care and attention to our
needs, as well as your evident
experience and knowledge, allowed us to
express how we feel about each
other and acknowledge this stage
of our relationship in front of people
close to us. Your were
personable and professional in all
resepects. Your assistance with
developing the ceremony was timely and
ambitious and we had faith in
your expertise from the very beginning.
your conception and performance
on the day, along with the photographer
(whom you recommended), have
given us precious and joyful memories we
will cherish for the rest of
our lives - Andrew and Fahad who
had only 10 days to arrange their
ceremony before they headed overseas.
Lots of rabbits were pulled out of
hats in the process!

It [the ceremony]
made us both feel very special,
everything we asked was put in
and even improved. Everyone who attended
said it was a great ceremony,
very touching and it wasn't traditional
which made it much more
interesting. - Brendon and Michael with
one of the several friends who
participated in the handfasting that was
a
feature of their July 2009 garden
commitment ceremony